PC-on-a-stick

PC on a Stick, "Stick-Style PC", or "Stick PC" refers to a computing device that is shaped in a small elongated casing thus resembling a small stick or usb thumb flash drive. The term "PC on a Stick" may have been first used to describe a mobile workspace, a device for securely booting and running an operating system from a USB stick, however as of at least 2012 the term PC on a Stick now more generally refers to the shape of a compact USB thumb drive shaped computing device.

The term as used to refer to the more general description of a small computing device with an elongated USB-flash drive like casing contemplates that the device is not a passive storage device as was the IronClad™ product (see below) which contained only stored instructions or an operating system to be run on the host device's CPU or processing chips. As used by the public the term Stick PC, Stick-style PC, or PC on a Stick refers to devices which have independent CPU or processing chips contained within the device which does not rely on another or host device for any processing to function as an independent computer. Thus, these devices as known to the public can turn a non-computer host into a peripheral device to produce visual or audio output such as a TV or Kiosk display.

The term as used to refer to an IronClad™ product denotes a non-CPU or processing chip device developed through a partnership between Lockheed Martin Corporation and IronKey.^[1][2][3][4] IronKey’s security hardware products were purchased by Imation in September of 2011. PC on a Stick™ is a registered trademark of the Imation Corporation and now covers the complete line of IronKey Workspace devices and legacy MXI StealthZone products.^[5]

History

As used in common language the term refers to the concept of a USB sized stick style computing device. ^[6] The first of these devices was known as the "Cotton Candy", which was developed by FXI Technologies of Norway. In January 2012, the Cotton Candy made it to the top-10 finalist at the "Last Gadget Standing" new technology competition at CES 2012. Also at CES 2012, LaptopMag.com made Cotton Candy a top-10 finalist for its "Readers’ Choice for Best of CES 2012" award. EFYTimes News Network as well named FXI Technologies Cotton Candy a "Top 10 Gadgets Launched @ CES 2012". The first generation of the Cotton Candy stick style PC is a low-power ARM architecture CPU based computer which uses dual-core processors such as the dual-core 1.2 GHz Exynos 4210 (45 nm ARM Cortex-A9 with 1MB L2 cache) SoC (System on a chip) by Samsung, featuring a quad-core 200 MHz ARM Mali-400 MP GPU OpenGL ES 2.0 capable 2D/3D graphics processing unit, an Audio and Video Decoder hardware engine, and TrustZone (Security Extensions) Cryptographic Engine and Security Accelerator (CESA) co-processor. The platform is said to be able to stream and decode H.264 1080p content, and be able to use desktop class interfaces such as KDE or GNOME under Linux.

In reference to the term "PC-on a Stick", in 2010 IronKey and Lockheed Martin Corporation announced IronClad, a secure “PC on a Stick,” that enabled the booting of an entire computer operating system from an external USB key.^[7] However, this device did not ever contain a separate CPU or processing chip that could function independent of the host computer.

In 2011, Imation Corporation acquired IronKey’s assets, as well as Montreal-based MXI Security the makers of StealthZone Secure Portable Desktop, a PC on a Stick, which also delivered the ability to boot a fully functioning version of Windows from a secure USB device.^[8][9][10]

IronKey continues to produce and manufacture a complete line of PC on a Stick products under the IronKey brand including the IronKey Workspace W300 in October 2012, the IronKey Workspace W500 in 2013, the IronKey Workspace W700 and W700SC in 2015, and the IronKey Workspace W200 in late 2015.^{[11][12][13][14]}

In addition IronKey continues to provide tools for mass provisioning and scripted creation of PC on a Stick devices, as well as on-going certification for their devices.^[15]

As used in common language the term refers to the concept of a USB sized stick style computing device. The first of these devices was known as the Cotton Candy, which was developed by FXI Technologies of Norway. In January 2012 the Cotton Candy made it to the top-10 finalist at the "Last Gadget Standing" new technology competition at CES 2012. Also at CES 2012, LaptopMag.com made Cotton Candy a top-10 finalist for its "Readers’ Choice for Best of CES 2012" award. EFYTimes News Network as well named FXI Technologies Cotton Candy a "Top 10 Gadgets Launched @ CES 2012". The first generation of the Cotton Candy stick style PC isa low-power ARM architecture CPU based computer which uses dual-core processors such as the dual-core 1.2 GHz Exynos 4210 (45 nm ARM Cortex-A9 with 1MB L2 cache) SoC (System on a chip) by Samsung, featuring a quad-core 200 MHz ARM Mali-400 MP GPU OpenGL ES 2.0 capable 2D/3D graphics processing unit, an Audio and Video Decoder hardware engine, and TrustZone (Security Extensions) Cryptographic Engine and Security Accelerator (CESA) co-processor. The platform is said to be able to stream and decode H.264 1080p content, and be able to use desktop class interfaces such as KDE or GNOME under Linux.

References